The present invention relates to an improved method of eliminating an individual's tobacco smoking habit as well as the associated nicotine dependence created by smoking.
The use of tobacco and, more particularly, the smoking of cigarettes is well recognized as a major public health problem. Tobacco use has been irrefutably tied to such ailments as cardiovascular disease, emphysema and various forms of cancer. Yet, despite the ever growing evidence linking tobacco use to very serious diseases and the warnings of the U.S. Surgeon General on cigarette packaging, tobacco use persists. This is true even though there is a high public awareness of the problem.
Many present day tobacco smokers recognize the danger and appreciate the need to overcome their tobacco dependence. There, however, is a large difference between recognizing the need to overcome tobacco dependence and actually overcoming the dependence. The difficulty in overcoming the tobacco dependence is best illustrated by the number of different methods that have been designed to aid people in reaching this goal.
One of the methods utilized is psychotherapeutic in nature and includes the utilization of hypnosis. Another known method is negative conditioning. For example, an apparatus is rigged on the individual so that whenever reaching for a cigarette, the individual is subjected to a painful stimuli, such as an electrical shock. An additional alternative is a pharmacological approach. This involves the administration of a therapeutic compound, such as Lobeline or other sedatives or anti-convulsant drugs. Whether used separately or in various combinations, these prior art methods have only met with limited success.
More recent study of the smoking problem has led to the development of nicotine substitutes as anti-smoking aids. Such a substitute is marketed as a chewing gum under the trademark Nicorette by Merrell-Dow of Cincinnati, Ohio. As a general practice, the prior art teaches that alternative nicotine sources are only effective as an anti-smoking aid when an individual immediately stops smoking and substitutes the nicotine source for the cigarettes. In fact, up until the development of the method of the present invention, insofar as I am aware there has been no suggestion that a gradual cutting of tobacco consumption with the substitution of an alternative nicotine source might be an effective approach to overcoming tobacco dependency.
While this approach to immediately stop smoking by taking a substitute nicotine source and going cold turkey on smoking is successful for certain individuals, the results are not satisfactory for the large majority of addicted smokers. One theory is that suddenly giving up completely the social and psychological aspects of cigarettes coupled with the lack of a surge or spike of nicotine high that can only be obtained by smoking simply requires too much will power for the average individual.
To put it another way, prior art methods of administering nicotine substitutes have not been successful because these methods do not recognize and address the two-prong "addiction" of smoking. First, there are social and psychological reasons for smoking that must be initially overcome. Secondly, there is the more powerful pharmacological reason (nicotine addiction) that must then be conquered. Both the social and psychological causes of smoking, as well as the pharmacological nicotine dependence must be addressed in sequence, if a truly successful method of eliminating an individual's tobacco smoking habit and associated nicotine dependence is to be provided.